The field of the invention relates generally to a polygonal container and, more particularly, to a non-rectangular container having a bottom wall formed from a plurality of interlocked bottom panels, wherein the bottom wall is configured to engage at least some side walls of the container to prevent movement of those side walls relative to each other.
At least some known containers are four-sided and include a bottom wall formed from a plurality of interlocked bottom panels. The interlocking bottom panels enable the rectangular container to be finally formed without using adhesives and/or tapes. When formed, these known containers include side walls that rest on top of or are positioned above the interlocking bottom panels. These containers are sometimes referred to as knocked-down-flat (KDF) containers. In other words, the side walls of the container are coupled together, but then the partially formed container is knocked down flat until it is needed, at which time the container is erected (oftentimes by hand), in part by interlocking the bottom panels to form the container. In addition, these KDF containers having side walls that rest on or above the bottom wall may be unable to hold their shape during formation, shipping, and/or storage thereof. In other words, the side walls can move, flex, or skew relative to each other. This movement of the side walls can cause the container to lose stacking strength.
Moreover, rectangular-shaped containers are oftentimes not suitable for a packaging application. Specifically, the item to be packed and shipped may not be rectangular and, therefore, a rectangular-shaped package may lack the desired space efficiency. Furthermore, a rectangular-shaped package may lack sufficient strength for stacking or bulge resistance. In these types of packaging applications, a shipping container having a non-rectangular configuration is better suited.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a non-rectangular container having a bottom wall formed from interlocking bottom panels that is able to prevent movement of the side walls relative to each other.